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Issue 4 | Teddies Talks Biology
10
The Healthier Drug: Marijuana
or Alcohol?
Huda Khalaf and Danielle Lim - U6th
Although there is stigma surrounding the
consumption of alcohol and marijuana,
there are still some health benefits to be
considered when taking these substances
in moderation. One of the biggest argu-
ments is between the benefits of alcohol
against marijuana. Marijuana is a mixture of
dried flowers of Cannabis
sativa, and it is most often
smoked. Whereas, alcohol
is a legal sedative drug
which is most commonly
consumed as a beverage.
Advantages of Alcohol
There are quite a few ben-
efits to consuming alcohol
in moderation, and here are some of the
few way in which they can be good for our
health. One way in which alcohol was found
to be beneficial to our health was that it was
found to lower our risk of cardiovascular dis-
ease. This is because it raises the levels of
high-density lipoprotein, which can also be
known as ‘good cholesterol’. This is associ-
ated with better protection against heart dis-
ease. Other ways in which alcohol con-
sumption can be beneficial in moderation is
that in a study conducted for the Journal of
Sexual Medicine, it was found that it could
in fact improve libido in men as their chanc-
es of erectile dysfunction was reduced by
25- 30%. Finally, another benefit which was
found in a Dutch study, stated that healthy
adults who drank one to two glasses per
day have a decreased chance of develop-
ing type 2 diabetes, in comparison to those
who do not drink at all.
Advantages of Marijuana
The most obvious benefit of marijuana is its
medicinal use for the treatment and preven-
tion of diseases. An example would be for
Glaucoma, a disease in which an increase
in pressure in the
eyeball causes
damage to nerves
and a loss of vision.
Studies in the early
1970s showed that
marijuana, when
smoked, lowered
intraocular pressure
in people with nor-
mal pressure and those with glaucoma. Ma-
rijuana has also been known for its usage in
controlling seizures, cannabinoids like the
active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydro-
cannabinol (THC), control seizures by bind-
ing to the brain cells responsible for control-
ling excitability and regulating relaxation. In
2007, a study conducted by the California
Pacific Medical Centre found that canna-
bidiol stops cancer by turning off a gene
called Id-1, the study, found that cancer
cells make more copies of this gene than
non-cancerous cells, and it helps them
spread through the body, this means it may
be used for prevention or as a treatment for
cancer. Furthermore, a recent study on
mice showed that the active ingredient in
marijuana (THC) has been known to help
treat dementia, a disease which affects
around 47 million people worldwide.